


Troll Style

by imthekingoftheocean (im_the_king_of_the_ocean)



Series: Pride Month Ficlets 2K18 [6]
Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, LGBT troll community, nonbinary!Jim, nonbinary!trolls, troll!jim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 15:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15027818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/imthekingoftheocean
Summary: Jim gets advice on to be both nonbinary and troll





	Troll Style

It was that time of evening when the sky was a sort of navy blue color that would soon transition into indigo, violet, and then night.  The sun wasn’t quite set yet, but there were enough clouds and cover from the trees of the surrounding forest that the trolls didn’t have to worry about it.

It was a time Jim generally enjoyed, as it was the closest they currently could get to being out during the day.  That evening, however, they found themself apprehensive.  Though, not about the evening itself, but a conversation that was yet to come.  They’d asked Blinky about something and been advised to talk to another troll, Ria, and it was that that they was doing now.  Or, at least what they would be doing in a minute when they reached Ria’s campsite.

Though the trolls always stopped for the day as a unit, when they made camp, they tended to split into small clusters of close friends or family.  Jim, for instance, always camped with Claire, Blinky, and ARRRGGGGHHH!!!.  Ria, Blinky had told them, camped with Glug, and another troll named Trixaz.  Blinky didn’t quite know what the trio’s relationship was—they tended to keep to themselves—but he did know it was Ria and Trixaz who carried Glug’s tub for her each time the group moved.

When Jim arrived, Ria was thankfully already awake at their campfire.  Waking trolls was not something Jim enjoyed.  At all.  And they was unsure they’d have the courage to seek out this conversation a second time.

“Good evening to you, Trollhunter,” Ria greeted Jim when they stepped out from behind the final tree.  “I would offer you some glug, but you don’t strike me as the type who’d like the kind that’s been stewing under a Quagawump all day.”

Jim glanced over at the tub, where Glug was indeed snoring while resting in the oozy, green liquid.  “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that.  I, um, you see—”

“I assure you we will be ready to depart on time so tell Blinkous, he doesn’t have to worry about us.”  Ria poked at the embers of the fire with a stick.  “I believe we have an hour or two left.  Those twowill be up by then.”  This was accompanied by a gesture to Glug, and Trixaz, who was lying on their back, also snoring, next to Glug’s tub.

“Ok, that’s great.”  Jim took a breath.  “But not what I’m here for.  Blinky told me that you may know some things about being…I don’t know if trolls have a word for it, but humans, we— _they_ —have this term.  Nonbinary.  It means—”

“I know that word.”  Ria interrupted.  “The ones who shift their genders.  Whether from one to another or to someplace in between.  You’ve come to the right troll, I suppose.  Come.  Sit.”  Ria gestured to a second log by the campfire.  “This will be quite the discussion, I think.”

Jim sat.  Took a deep breath.  Spoke.  “Before, when I was human, I was nonbinary.  I used pronouns to reflect that and changed how I looked.  Sometimes.  When I was comfortable.  Like with Toby and Claire.  I wasn’t out to everyone.”  They looked over their hands.  Focused on the different number of fingers on each.  “I still am.  I don’t know.  I still want to be.  But now that I’m a troll, I…Blinky said you would know if there’s a Trollish way to look or not look like…you get what I’m trying to say, right?”  Because Jim had a feeling they were messing up their words.

To be fair, Jim hadn’t been certain of asking a stranger for help, but Blinky had assured them Ria would be open and kind.  And one of Jim’s biggest concerns was what their troll appearance said about them.  Were the trolls making assumptions about them?  On the one hand, Jim didn’t want to talk to the trolls about it.  At all.  On the other, Jim was uncomfortable about not knowing how or if their troll appearance now defined them.

“You do not have a way with words, Trollhunter, but you appear genuine enough, so I will teach you.  However.”

A dagger cut deep into the log Jim sat upon.  They yelped.

Ria continued on, unperturbed.  “If you seek to trick me or this is all a deceit, that dagger will be the least of your worries.”

“I—ok.  Um, no.  Not a trick.  Just someone who wants to know how to be nonbinary while also a troll.”  Jim heaved a breath.  “So, how do we start?  Is there some sort of training or—?”

“No.  And there is no one way to be, either.  That is the same for humans, yes?  You present yourself how you wish and curse the troll who thinks they can decide for you.”  Ria smiled then.  “But, tomorrow, I think, I will introduce you to everyone else.”

“Everyone else?”

“Did you think I was the only nonbinary troll, Trollhunter?”

“Yeah, kind of?  And call me Jim.”

“Well,  _Jim,_ I am not.”  Ria paused.  “There are also those among us who would fit with other human labels you know, but that is for them to tell not me.  Of course, we trolls have our own terms for such things.  I can teach you those if you wish.  We do have about an hour left.”

“That would be great.” Jim smiled.

The thought that there was a community was extremely comforting.  Before becoming one, Jim hadn’t had the chance to know a lot about troll culture and it seemed unlikely that there would be nonbinary trolls.  But now Jim knew there were.  And they had figured themself out before, so they could probably do it again.  Just troll-style this time.


End file.
